Well, continuing the dress theme, Joe has made three more floral couture gowns, together with a living floral catwalk in Kildare Village, to coincide with their Chic Summer Festival.

He said: ‘Due to the installation’s outdoor positioning and the length of exposure to the public, we couldn’t feasibly make the dresses purely out of fresh flowers.

So, instead, we used as much fresh and natural material as possible in the dresses, and decided to work with a solid carpet of fresh plants and flowers throughout the catwalk.

We designed three dresses, each incorporating a different aspect of the Irish Summer, and narrowed it down to one dress inspired by cornflowers, one by daisies and one by butterflies.

The daisy dress was particularly relevant, as the festival ambassador was Daisy Lowe, who helped to launch the festival.’

Here are some close-ups of the dresses…

Joe said : ‘We had a team of eight working in Kildare Village for five days before the festival launch. This amount of man hours was required due to the detail involved in the construction of the collection.

I’m a stickler for technique and keeping an eye on the details, so every aspect of the project was constructed or overseen my myself and my team.’

The natural elements included on the dresses are Ceropegia woodii, succulents, bear grass, lichen and bamboo.

And the flowers and plants used throughout the catwalk, which measures 6m by 2m, include roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, Marguerite daisies, gypsophila, lavender, cornflowers and cosmos.

So, if you live near Kildare Village and would like to see Joe’s designs, they’ll be on display until July 29th.

By the way, my favourite dress is the one inspired by cornflowers…it’s stunning!

Meet Rona

A very warm welcome! My name is Rona Wheeldon and I’ve made it my mission to inspire and support the floristry industry. I’m passionate about this incredible sector and everyone involved, rooting for florists, flower growers and flower wholesalers.

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